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Author
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Topic: Ancient Tablet Echoes Bible Passage
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Kindgo
Advanced Member
Member # 2
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posted
Chuck Missler Commentary of the Stone Tablet Found!
From Khouse e-news
ANCIENT BIBLICAL? STONE TABLET FOUND
The Hebrew Old Testament has been faithfully copied and passed down from generation to generation through centuries. While the Scriptures themselves have been carefully preserved, the historical world in which they were written has largely disappeared into the sands of the Middle East. However, on occasion a piece of physical archeological evidence is discovered which corroborates those Scriptural accounts. Most recently, a portion of an ancient sandstone tablet has been discovered which - if authenticated - will add to that evidence, specifically by confirming the Bible's account of the rule of King Joash.
The fifteen lines on the darkened sandstone are written in pre-Babylonian Hebrew, and closely resemble passages from 2 Kings 12 in which King Joash commands repairs for the long-neglected Temple. On the tablet, the king tells the priests to take "holy money ... to buy quarry stones and timber and copper and labor to carry out the duty with faith."
However, many antiquities dealers in Israel make their livings selling items without taking care to preserve archeologically important information and it has been difficult to verify where the tablet was originally found. An unidentified source told the Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz that the tablet was uncovered during renovations of the Haram as-Sharif mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City. The site of the ancient Jewish temples, Muslims and Jews still dispute who has the most right to the area. The Islamic Trust which has been doing the renovating naturally denies that the tablet was found at the mosque compound.
Interested in determining the authenticity of the tablet, the antiquities collector who purchased the tablet took it to Israel's Geological Institute. The experts at the institute examined the tablet over the past year, doing carbon dating and other tests. After their extensive studies, these archeologists argue that while its recent history is in the dark, the tablet itself is authentic. The inscription dates back to the 9th century, and the outer layer of the sandstone contains tiny specks of gold. "These specks of gold are not natural material, but a sign of human activity," said Amos Bean, director of the institute. "They could be from gold-plated objects in the home of a very rich man, or a temple. ... It's hard to believe that anyone would know how to do these things to make it look real."
If the tablet can be completely authenticated, it will be added to a list of important finds, such as the Cyrus Cylinder and the Taylor Prism, that have confirmed the Bible's historical accounts.
Sources are:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,75435,00.html
]http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/030113/168/314v0.html
http://www.khouse.org/6640/technical/BP092.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2655781.stm
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God bless,
Kindgo
Inside the will of God there is no failure. Outside the will of God there is no success.
Posts: 4320 | From: Sunny Florida | Registered: Jun 2002
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Trafield
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Thanks, Robby! Very interesting!
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Robby
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Member # 448
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2 Kings 12:1-6
In the seventh year of Jehu Jehoash began to reign; and forty years reigned he in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Zibiah of Beersheba.
And Jehoash did that which was right in the sight of the LORD all his days wherein Jehoiada the priest instructed him.
But the high places were not taken away: the people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places.
And Jehoash said to the priests, All the money of the dedicated things that is brought into the house of the LORD, even the money of every one that passeth the account, the money that every man is set at, and all the money that cometh into any man's heart to bring into the house of the LORD,
Let the priests take it to them, every man of his acquaintance: and let them repair the breaches of the house, wheresoever any breach shall be found.
But it was so, that in the three and twentieth year of king Jehoash the priests had not repaired the breaches of the house.
2 Kings 12:11-17
And they gave the money, being told, into the hands of them that did the work, that had the oversight of the house of the LORD: and they laid it out to the carpenters and builders, that wrought upon the house of the LORD,
And to masons, and hewers of stone, and to buy timber and hewed stone to repair the breaches of the house of the LORD, and for all that was laid out for the house to repair it.
Howbeit there were not made for the house of the LORD bowls of silver, snuffers, basons, trumpets, any vessels of gold, or vessels of silver, of the money that was brought into the house of the LORD:
But they gave that to the workmen, and repaired therewith the house of the LORD.
Moreover they reckoned not with the men, into whose hand they delivered the money to be bestowed on workmen: for they dealt faithfully.
The trespass money and sin money was not brought into the house of the LORD: it was the priests'.
Then Hazael king of Syria went up, and fought against Gath, and took it: and Hazael set his face to go up to Jerusalem.
Posts: 364 | Registered: Sep 2002
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Robby
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This story is about an ancient tablet detailing repair plans for the Jewish Temple of King Solomon. I'm placing it in with the end time news, because it looks like something which might cause Israelis to speed up the process for rebuilding the temple.
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MSNBC
JERUSALEM, Jan. 13 — Israeli geologists said Monday they have examined a stone tablet detailing repair plans for the Jewish Temple of King Solomon that, if authenticated, would be a rare piece of physical evidence confirming biblical narrative. The find — whose origin is murky — is about the size of a legal pad, with a 15-line inscription in ancient Hebrew that strongly resembles descriptions in the Bible’s Book of Kings.
THE TABLET COULD also strengthen Jewish claims to a disputed holy site in Jerusalem’s Old City that is now home to two major mosques. Muslim clerics insist, despite overwhelming archaeological evidence, that no Jewish shrine ever stood at the site. That claim was made by Palestinian officials in failed negotiations with Israel in 2000 over who would be sovereign there.
The origin of the stone tablet is unclear, making it difficult to establish authenticity.
The Israeli daily Haaretz on Monday quoted an unidentified source as saying it was uncovered in recent years, during renovations carried out by the Muslim administrators of the mosque compound known to Muslims as the Haram as-Sharif, or Noble Sanctuary, and to Jews as the Temple Mount.
From there, it reached a major antiquities collector in Jerusalem, Haaretz said. The Holy Land has a thriving trade in antiquities, often operating on the edge of the law.
The sandstone tablet has a 15-line inscription in ancient Hebrew that resembles descriptions in Kings II, 12:1-6, 11-17, said Israel’s Geological Survey, which examined the artifact. The words refer to King Joash, who ruled the area 2,800 years ago.
In it, the king tells priests to take “holy money ... to buy quarry stones and timber and copper and labor to carry out the duty with faith.” If the work is completed well, “the Lord will protect his people with blessing,” reads the last sentence of the inscription.
The Jerusalem collector has declined to come forward, and David Zailer, a lawyer for the collector, would not say where the tablet was found or give any further details.
Gabriel Barkai, a biblical archaeologist, said the collector asked the Israel Museum to determine the authenticity of the inscription and was told the museum’s experts could not rule out a forgery. The Israel Museum declined comment Monday.
The collector then took the tablet to Israel’s Geological Institute, whose experts studied it over the past year. “Our findings show that it is authentic,” said Shimon Ilani, who performed geological tests on the inscription. Carbon dating confirms the writing goes back to the 9th century B.C., he said.
In the outer layer, Ilani and his colleagues found microscopic flecks of gold that could have been burnt into the stone when a building containing both the tablet and gold objects was destroyed.
This could mean the tablet was actually part of Solomon’s Temple, which was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C., said Amos Bean, director of the institute.
“These specks of gold are not natural material, but a sign of human activity,” said Bean. “They could be from gold-plated objects in the home of a very rich man, or a temple. ... It’s hard to believe that anyone would know how to do these things to make it look real.”
The stone itself was probably from the Dead Sea area and was originally whiter than its current dark gray, Bean said.
‘FAR-REACHING IMPLICATIONS’
Hershel Shanks, editor of the Washington-based Biblical Archaeology Review, said the tablet, if authentic, would be “visual, tactile evidence that reaches across 2,800 years.”
Barkai said the inscription’s resemblance to biblical passages “has far-reaching implications of the historical importance of the biblical text.”
Several other inscriptions excavated in recent years refer to characters or events from the Bible. A stone inscription found in northern Israel includes the phrase “house of David.” Most experts consider this to be the first ancient writing outside the Bible that refers to King David or the Davidic line of kings, which has corroborated the basic history of the Hebrew Scriptures.
Adnan Husseini, the director of the Islamic Trust that administers the Jerusalem mosque compound, denied Monday the tablet was found during renovation work there.
In recent years, the Islamic Trust has turned an underground vault in the compound into a large prayer area, prompting complaints by Israeli archaeologists that important artifacts are being destroyed. At one point, the archaeologists said truckloads of soil from the holy site were dumped uninspected into the nearby Kidron Valley.
The mosque compound is Islam’s third-holiest site, while the adjacent Western Wall, the last remnant of the second Jewish Temple compound, is Judaism’s holiest site. Most rabbis ban Jews from entering the Temple Mount for religious purity reasons.
When Israel conquered east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war, it permitted Muslim clergy to continue administering the hilltop area to avoid conflict with the Muslim world.
The mystery surrounding the stone tablet — its murky origins, appearance on the private antiquities market and a collector unwilling to come forward — mirrors the controversy over an inscription on an ancient burial box that may be the oldest archaeological link to Jesus.
The burial box, or ossuary, had the inscription, “James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus,” leading some to believe it was used to store the remains of James, the brother of Jesus of Nazareth. Other experts said the inscription might be a forgery.
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